Secretory innervation of the parotid gland.
The reported failures of Jacobson-nerve resection to eliminate parotid secretion in clinical cases suggest that alternative secretory routes to the parotid gland exist. By stimulating the inferior salivatory nucleus and successively transecting suspected pathways, it was found that only the facial nerve trunk carries accessory efferent fibers to the gland in the cat. No efferent fibers were found in the chorda tympani, but afferent fibers of the salivary reflex arc are provided by this nerve.
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002814:Chorda Tympani Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D010306:Parotid Gland / Q000294:innervation* / Q000378:metabolism